On Wednesday, @Tallguy, @Doublebluff, a friend of mine, and I went out with Nick in search of tuna. We left Westport in thick fog. Once offshore, the fog had lifted to a cloud layer that the sun almost burnt through but never did. There was a long-period swell up to 5 feet and winds in the 4-8 knot range. Nick was able to bomb out at 20+ knots most of the way to a spot about 40 miles southwest of Westport.
Once there, we set out 4 fly rods as Nick started the troll. We hadn’t been trolling for two minutes before @Tallguy's fly gets bit and its fish on. We didn’t pick up any fish on the “slide” (after Nick has put the boat’s engines in neutral and the boat slows to a stop while we strip on our fly lines). Once stopped, we cast and stripped in flies, while @Tallguy fought his fish from one side of the aft deck to the other. After the usual hard battle, the fish was gaffed; but we had no bites on our stripped flies and Nick wasn’t seeing any fish on the fish-finder. So, back on the troll. Five minutes later, we have double.
Once these fish are gaffed, we’re back on the troll and soon have another fish on. Four fish in the box in a bit over a half hour of fishing.
Of course, it couldn’t stay that hot all day, but we ended up with 23 albacore in the fish box by the end of the day.
I was off my game that day and the other three brought in the lion’s share of the fish.
As is often the case, we lost a few on the initial hit and a few at the boat.
Most of our fish were hooked on the troll. We had a few doubles and one triple (of course, I was the one that hadn’t hooked a fish…) that way during the day. As is always the case with albacore fishing, fighting multiple fish led to carefully choreographed dances to prevent flyline origami as the hooked fish led the anglers from one side of the boat to another. We were not as successful on the slide as I have experienced in other trips. Over the day, we hooked four fish by stripping flies while the boat was stationary and an angler (or three) was fishing an already-hooked fish. On a few of these stops, we had fish busting bait (juvenile sauries most likely) at the surface around the boat as well as some of the anchovies that the mate or Nick threw out..
These trips can be a great opportunity to see a diversity of wildlife. On the ride out, we ran past a large group of dolphins/porpoises and later had two individuals playing briefly in the wake of the boat while we were on the troll. We saw many sooty shearwaters on the trip out, several albatrosses, and a few storm petrels. While trolling, we buzzed several times by curious terns (Arctic?). A small ocean sunfish (Mola mola) drifted by. But the strangest encounter occurred while @Doublebluff was nearing the end game on a nice albacore. Nick’s mate had the gaff in hand when the fish just berserk and its was into the backing in an instant. After more hard work, he had the fish up close to the surface when a dark shape appeared behind the fish. When it was finally gaffed, its dorsal fin area was chewed up – probably by a large shark (mako?).
One trip down, two more on the schedule.
Steve
Once there, we set out 4 fly rods as Nick started the troll. We hadn’t been trolling for two minutes before @Tallguy's fly gets bit and its fish on. We didn’t pick up any fish on the “slide” (after Nick has put the boat’s engines in neutral and the boat slows to a stop while we strip on our fly lines). Once stopped, we cast and stripped in flies, while @Tallguy fought his fish from one side of the aft deck to the other. After the usual hard battle, the fish was gaffed; but we had no bites on our stripped flies and Nick wasn’t seeing any fish on the fish-finder. So, back on the troll. Five minutes later, we have double.
Once these fish are gaffed, we’re back on the troll and soon have another fish on. Four fish in the box in a bit over a half hour of fishing.
Of course, it couldn’t stay that hot all day, but we ended up with 23 albacore in the fish box by the end of the day.
I was off my game that day and the other three brought in the lion’s share of the fish.
As is often the case, we lost a few on the initial hit and a few at the boat.
Most of our fish were hooked on the troll. We had a few doubles and one triple (of course, I was the one that hadn’t hooked a fish…) that way during the day. As is always the case with albacore fishing, fighting multiple fish led to carefully choreographed dances to prevent flyline origami as the hooked fish led the anglers from one side of the boat to another. We were not as successful on the slide as I have experienced in other trips. Over the day, we hooked four fish by stripping flies while the boat was stationary and an angler (or three) was fishing an already-hooked fish. On a few of these stops, we had fish busting bait (juvenile sauries most likely) at the surface around the boat as well as some of the anchovies that the mate or Nick threw out..
These trips can be a great opportunity to see a diversity of wildlife. On the ride out, we ran past a large group of dolphins/porpoises and later had two individuals playing briefly in the wake of the boat while we were on the troll. We saw many sooty shearwaters on the trip out, several albatrosses, and a few storm petrels. While trolling, we buzzed several times by curious terns (Arctic?). A small ocean sunfish (Mola mola) drifted by. But the strangest encounter occurred while @Doublebluff was nearing the end game on a nice albacore. Nick’s mate had the gaff in hand when the fish just berserk and its was into the backing in an instant. After more hard work, he had the fish up close to the surface when a dark shape appeared behind the fish. When it was finally gaffed, its dorsal fin area was chewed up – probably by a large shark (mako?).
One trip down, two more on the schedule.
Steve
